Confused about power lights, what's on and off

ValerieJ · August 08, 2009, 12:19:13 PM

Yesterday I used my new smoker for the first time. I'm not sure I understand what the power switch on the smoke generator does. Does it turn on the power for the entire smoker, or just for the smoke generator?

I smoked a boneless turkey breast and it turned out pretty well. I brined it first, so it stayed pretty juicy, but it also got a crust around the outside, which was interesting. Not quite what I expected, but it was good.

Today I'm going to smoke some salmon, looking forward to seeing how that turns out. I have a recipe for Canadian bacon that I'm looking forward to trying next weekend.

Valerie

Up In Smoke · August 08, 2009, 12:58:02 PM

Val,
the power switch on the generator is for the generator.
the slide control on the front of the cook tower is for the heating element in the back of the chamber.
the generator can be used to create smoke without using the heating element in the cook chamber.
giving you the ability to "cold smoke"
which is separating the generator from the cook chamber and piping in the smoke.

ValerieJ · August 09, 2009, 05:07:37 PM

Up, thanks, that's kind of what I thought. What I seemed to see, though, was that if I wanted to get a temp above about 100, I had to turn on both the smoke generator and the tower, hence my confusion.

Lots of tasty experimentation ahead, I can tell.

Up In Smoke · August 09, 2009, 05:21:16 PM

have you tried unplugging and plugging in the power cords a couple of times to get a good connection?
this seems to have helped others with that concern.
also when preheating/cooking you may want to slide the control on the cook tower to full right and then back
it off a smidge while running the generator.
what position is the vent on top in? i run mine 3/4 to full open at all times.

HawkeyeSmokes · August 09, 2009, 06:03:38 PM

Welcome to the forum Valerie. If your going to try Canadian Bacon I would suggest checking the post by Habanero Smoker. I've used that and it was great. Here's a link to it plus check out the other recipes. Lot's of great info. http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=311

smokeitall · August 09, 2009, 08:28:20 PM

Welcome aboard Valerie3

Caneyscud · August 10, 2009, 06:31:20 AM

Valerie3 - Welcome to the forum. Please feel free to ask all the questions you want. With all the great people on this forum, you will get lots of answers. In fact, it looks like they already got you covered already. Have fun with the smoker and all the great food that you prepare in it. It's an addiction with no cure - you always have to scratch the itch!

ValerieJ · August 11, 2009, 12:02:54 PM

Thanks all, for the welcome!

Quote from: Up In Smoke on August 09, 2009, 05:21:16 PM
have you tried unplugging and plugging in the power cords a couple of times to get a good connection?
this seems to have helped others with that concern.
also when preheating/cooking you may want to slide the control on the cook tower to full right and then back
it off a smidge while running the generator.
what position is the vent on top in? i run mine 3/4 to full open at all times.

I did reseat the power cord, just in case. I agree that it makes sense to preheat on full right and then back it down, that's what I did. I also closed the vent while I was preheating, seems like at that point I'm really needing to keep the heat in.

Using this for the first time, I assumed that if I was at a point where I didn't want any smoke, I should turn the smoke generator off. When I did so, I noticed that the temperature of the tower and the food started to go down, which didn't seem correct.

I'll have to keep tinkering, I think.

FLBentRider · August 11, 2009, 12:08:52 PM

Quote from: ValerieJ on August 11, 2009, 12:02:54 PM
Using this for the first time, I assumed that if I was at a point where I didn't want any smoke, I should turn the smoke generator off. When I did so, I noticed that the temperature of the tower and the food started to go down, which didn't seem correct.

The generator has a 135 watt element. You can leave it on if you like (I do). If you turn it off you will need to nudge the slider to the right to compensate.

KyNola · August 11, 2009, 12:48:12 PM

Valerie,
Some of the OBS have a dead spot with the slider 100% full to the right. The first step of your preheat should be to move the slider all the way to the right and immediately back it off a bit to insure you are not in the dead zone of the slider to begin the preheating of the smoker. If you try to preheat with the slider all the way to the right and then back it off, you may be preheating with only the smoke generator burner if your OBS has a dead zone when slid 100% to the right.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.
KyNola